San Jose Earthquakes

Two goals in two games. That’s Erick “Cubo” Torres for you. Torres opened the scoreboard in favor of Chivas USA in the 53rd minute of the game, putting the Goats up 1-nil over the San Jose Earthquakes. Watch his 11th goal of the season:

Will Erick “Cubo” Torres become MLS’ top goal scorer or will San Jose earn their first victory of the season? MLSsoccer.com’s Dan Haiek and Matt Doyle analyze and preview this Saturday’s match up between Chivas USA vs. the San Jose Earthquakes. Check it out & share your thoughts below:

Week 8 of the Major League Soccer season sees the California clash between host San Jose Earthquakes and Chivas USA. With the season just underway both teams are looking to catch some momentum. Chivas USA continue to improve each week but are still looking to gain more points from each game. If Chivas USA win, it will be the first road victory since March 24, 2013. With the Earthquakes winless streak this season, it looks to be a good opportunity to rectify that stat. San Jose are still trying to figure out what their identity is under new Head Coach Mark Watson, a tactician who has always looked to set up his teams in a more defensive shape. Last year, when he was named Interim Coach, the Earthquakes were 8-0-1 at home. In addition, the team didn’t allow a goal at Buck Shaw Stadium for 546 minutes starting on July 27 when Darlington Nagbe scored in the 83rd minute and ending with Stephen Keel’s 90th-minute header in San Jose’s final game of the season on Oct. 26. With that being said the Earthquakes lack an attacking flavor to their game. Especially with an injured Steven Lenhart being sidelined with a left MLC sprain, the Quakes can only rely on Chris Wondolowski to put the ball in the back of the net. However, Watson has stated he wants to improve their attacking play in the next coming weeks in the hopes of finally getting their first three points of the 2014 season.

Three Keys to Victory

Arial Battle

There is no secret to San Jose’s game plan. Get the ball forward as quick as possible and battle in the air for everything. They are a scrappy team that will leave bruises on their opponents. Lucky for the Red and White, the return of Bobby Burling to center back will offer a tall and strong presence to help counter act Alan Gordon in the air. Both Burling and Carlos Bocanegra are going to have their heads full with Wondo and Gordon battling in the air. I predict Wondo will try and run off Gordon and get on the end of any second ball. Besides a direct approach, the Goats need to keep a close eye on Shea Salinas who is a dynamic attacker who already has three assists and can provide crosses to Gordon and Wondo from the left flank. In addition to the Goats center backs, both Oswaldo Minda and Agustin Pelletieri need to be ready to pick up the second ball in the midfield. They need to act as a windshield wiper in front of the two center backs.

Set Pieces

Games are typically won by the smallest of margins, and in soccer set pieces more often than not are the difference between a win and a loss. As aforementioned, San Jose is a very direct team that lacks a lot of creativity in attack. But they are good in the air, and will be a handful on any dead ball situation. A coach needs to be able to find the best match ups when assigning duties on set pieces. I always tell my teams there are two factors when defending set pieces: 1) Organization and communication, and 2) Desire to win the ball over your opponent. The key for the Red-and-White is not to give away cheap free kicks around the goal or concede corner kicks. If that should happen, they need to be alert and ready to battle and scrap as if their life depends on it.

Possession to Penetrate

This game is a contrast of two styles of play. San Jose looking to be direct in your face style, while Chivas USA will be looking to improve their style of possession. I would like to see, just like every fan, possession being turned into scoring opportunities and goals. I expect Chivas USA to dominate this game in terms of having control of the ball, but they will need to be more creative if they are going to break down San Jose’s back-line. I anticipate Sam Cronin sitting in front of the back-four just like he did last week against Colorado Rapids, while both outside backs stayed home to maintain a clean sheet. The relationship between Carlos Alvarez, Erick Torres, Leandro Barrera and Mauro Rosales has proven to be a good one. Let’s take more of a risk and be adventurous to penetrate San Jose and comeback home with three points.

Just three days from Opening Match, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber will present his March to Soccer address and will be available to media via live stream on the MLS YouTube channel and Google+ Hangout on Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 3 pm PT.

The commissioner's March to Soccer address will include the presentation of new league initiatives for 2013 and a Q&A with media members, according to a release from the league.

The first step moving towards Chivas USA’s 2013 season begins Monday afternoon as Major League Soccer will hold a Waiver Draft via conference call at 12:30 p.m. PT, with all clubs participating except for MLS Cup finalists Houston Dynamo and LA Galaxy. Each club will announce the results of the Waiver Draft separately.

As of Monday morning, the Goats have not yet released a list of players eligible for the draft; a full list of league-wide eligible players will be listed on the club’s site before the draft. Players available to Monday’s draft are those whom (1) are not in a club’s plans for 2013, and (2) are NOT re-entry draft eligible (the latter to be held Thursday, December 6). Such players will be available to clubs in the Waiver Draft via the waiver draft order. As with all players that clear waivers, any players not selected in the Waiver Draft will be available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

After last night’s MLS Playoffs matches, Juan Agudelo, Simon Elliott and CDChivasUSA.com have been eliminated of bracket contention.

While both Agudelo and CDChivasUSA.com had San Jose as winners against the LA Galaxy, the Chivas forward also thought Sporting Kansas City would make a comeback and beat Houston in the aggregate score (Final: 2-1) and make the MLS Cup Final. Chivas USA’s Technical Director Simon Elliott had predicted San Jose winner of MLS Cup, though he still has a chance of winning the Eastern Conference with New York if they advance to the final tonight. Also participating in the bracket, assistant equipment manager Hugo Perez has New York with the MLS Cup win, with the Red Bulls facing Houston in the conference final.

Playoffs continue tonight as Real Salt Lake battle against Seattle Sounders in the Western Conference semi-final (6:30p PT on MLSLive) and New York hosts D.C. United tonight at 4:30p PT (NBC Sports Network).